A San Francisco decide on Thursday gave Don Lemon the inexperienced gentle to maneuver ahead along with his lawsuit in opposition to Elon Musk’s X after his present on the platform was abruptly canceled.
The former CNN host sued X, its proprietor Musk and Linda Yaccarino, who stop as CEO on Wednesday, after his content material deal was axed by Musk following their contentious interview, which was speculated to launch Lemon’s new present.
Superior Court docket Choose Harold Kahn gave Lemon the go-ahead on claims together with fraud, misappropriation of title and likeness and breach of implied contract. However the decide threw out allegations together with negligent misrepresentation, defamation, retaliation, negligence and harassment.
“The ruling means Don can maintain X and Musk accountable in open court docket,” Lemon’s lawyer, Carney Shegerian, mentioned in an announcement. “Musk is topic to the authorized course of, similar to everybody else, and that’s necessary. There’s no query about Musk’s motives and legal responsibility, as documented in his personal texts and on X for hundreds of thousands to see.”
Neither X nor attorneys for Musk responded to requests for remark.
Musk did reply to Lemon’s lawsuit after it was filed in 2024, writing on X on the time: “He made a sequence of impressively insane calls for. We declined. Due to this fact, there was no deal.
The Submit reported that Lemon had demanded a $5 million upfront cost on high of an $8 million wage, and an fairness stake within the social media platform to do the present.
Lemon was tapped to host a present with unique content material on X in early 2024, however Musk rapidly killed the partnership after being grilled, together with about hate speech on the platform.
He additionally apparently insisted on a free Tesla Cybertruck, a non-public jet to Las Vegas full with a set for him and his fiancé — and that the corporate pay for his or her day ingesting and massages, as The Submit solely reported.
The tech titan had been seeking to transfer the case to federal court docket in Texas, however that was denied by the decide.
In line with the grievance, Lemon initially met with Yaccarino and Brett Weitz, head of content material, expertise and model gross sales, in December 2023, the place they allegedly assured him that he had X’s “full assist,” have “full authority” over his work and that the platform wouldn’t intrude.
X allegedly instructed Lemon that the deal could be for one yr.
In return, Lemon — who was ousted by CNN in April 2023 after a sequence of blowups along with his morning present co-hosts — was to obtain $1.5 million, in addition to a 60% minimize in advert income and performance-related bonuses based mostly on what number of followers his present picked up, in response to court docket data.
Lemon claimed within the go well with that he was then “rushed” into agreeing to the partnership deal, and was instructed that it might be rescinded until he attended the CES convention in January and introduced it on X the identical day — a transfer meant to entice advertisers attending the occasion.
With that, and his “information of Yaccarino’s status as a profitable media government, Lemon agreed to enter into the unique partnership deal,” the lawsuit mentioned.
A buzzy interview with Musk on March 8, 2024, was speculated to function a launching level for Lemon’s new present on X earlier than the grilling ticked off the mogul.
However after the testy interview Musk sacked Lemon.
In line with the lawsuit, Musk despatched a textual content to Lemon’s agent with the phrases, “contract is canceled.”
Weitz instructed Lemon X was “not going to pay him or observe by with the guarantees and representations made to him as a result of there was no signed settlement, regardless of Musk beforehand representing to Lemon that there could be no want for a proper written settlement or to ‘fill out paperwork,’” the lawsuit alleges.
The decide mentioned that Lemon can pursue claims that the contract wasn’t enforced and unjust enrichment. He additionally will permit Lemon to right a declare of breach of specific contract, noting that his lawsuit didn’t specify whether or not it was “oral, written or implied.”
Among the many claims the decide tossed out was allegations of defamation. Musk had made a comparability of Lemon to Veruca Salt, a personality in Roald Dahl’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Manufacturing unit” over his contract calls for. The decide mentioned Lemon didn’t present that there was “minimal advantage” to that declare.
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